History
The Eastern Counties Railway had begun its venture into a main line railway that would head north to compete with the Great Northern. Limited funds and incessant squabbling had slowed its progress. After the merger with several other lines, the ECR became part of the Great Eastern Railway. The GER planned a network of lines to serve countryside around London by its Metropolitan Station and Railways Act of 1864. It also planned a line to High Beach to serve Epping Forest, which in the event, reached a terminus in Bull Lane, Chingford, in 1873. In 1878 the little station that had served the village well and had been placed near to the village green, was replaced by a much more grandiose station on the very edge of town, overlooking the forest. The extension of the railway by only 600 yards to a place far less useful to the local population was purely an attempt to trap tourist traffic to the forest, and also to stimulate suburban growth in the fields surrounding it. The rail line had been doubled and the new station built as a through station, with its platforms and tracks leading out onto an embankment ready to leap across the newly named Station Road and enter the forest.
The railway itself by means of its positioning had fostered new interest in the forest as a trip destination and the popularity of this Crown land and its impending loss to development was not unnoticed. In 1882 none other than Queen Victoria herself came by train to Chingford and declared the forest open to the public forever. The railway that had encouraged so much interest and carried the Royal party to the very edge of town was now stumped as any new development on the forest lands would be strictly controlled. However, the Chingford Rise Estate company developed land to the south with large villas, some of which now sell for over £1 million each.
Chingford station became a commuter terminal and was eventually truncated to make way for a bus station. The line no longer towers over the forest, but hides quietly behind the bustle of Station Road, its electric trains now transporting workers into the city, rather than helping the masses to escape it.
The station building is relatively unchanged since its 1878 construction, and still carries the grandeur that accompanied the railway schemes of the late 19th century.
There is a plastic owl situated in the underside of the canopy over platform two, just outside the newsagent's. This was an attempt to stop pigeons landing there.
Ticket barriers were installed in 2011.
Read more about this topic: Chingford Railway Station
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